Only a dream?
by KitLee
Summary: Lauren wakes up Saturday morning to find herself in the weirdest place . . .


Only a dream?  
by KitLee  
  
Disclaimer: All characters but Becca and Katie and Lindsay Guber are from "Boston Public." I do not claim own them. Do not use Becca, Katie and Lindsay without my permission. I mention "Sesame Street" but do not own it. I mention "Emma" but do not own that. "That Day the Principal Kicked the Whole School Out" is a very early work of my sister Sarahjane and is used here with her permission.  
  
Author's Note: This is my second "Boston Public" fanfic. Just for the record, I did NOT get this idea from "The Family Man." This is all mine. Please r/r!  
  
*****  
  
Lauren Davis walked through the halls of Winslow High School. It was Friday afternoon, and she was on her way home.  
  
"Finally," she thought. This week had been far too long. She passed Harvey, Marylin, Kevin, Guber and Steven on her way out. She felt bad because Harry had had to cancel their date that evening. He was out with the flu. She hoped he would get better, but for now that left her with nothing to look forward to.   
  
She went home, watched some TV and ate dinner - all alone. As she got ready for bed, she hit her head on her bedroom door.  
  
"Damn," she muttered. What a terrible way to end a terrible day. Crawling into bed, she hoped that her weekend wouldn't be as bad as the week had been.  
  
*****  
  
The smell of coffee greeted Lauren as she woke the next morning. For a moment, she left her eyes closed, breathing in the wonderful aroma. But wait - how could there be fresh coffee in her apartment if no one else was there?  
  
She opened her eyes slowly and found herself staring at an unfamiliar ceiling. The bed wasn't her own. The entire room seemed to have changed overnight. And sitting in the chair next to her bed, half-asleep with coffee right beside him, looking different from how she remembered him but recognizable all the same, was Scott Guber.  
  
She almost screamed. As it was, her quick gasp and jerk upright woke him.  
  
He smiled at her. "Good morning Lauren. How are you?"  
  
"Um, I'm fine Scott. Um, I don't mean to be rude or anything, but what are you doing here?"  
  
"Well, the doctor said that after that nasty bump on your head, I should watch you to make sure you didn't fall into a coma."  
  
He'd totally missed the point of her question. "Oh, um, thanks. But that's not what I meant. What are you doing in my bedroom in my apartment?"  
  
He looked concerned at her. "Lauren, honey," he said slowly, "this is *our* bedroom in *our* house."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Are you sure you're fine? Maybe I should take you in to the emergency room."  
  
"Oh, Scott, you don't have to do that. I'm fine." Just then, two girls ran into their room. The older one looked about nine or ten and had Scott's pale brown hair - potato-colored was how Marilyn described it. The younger one looked about three and was blonde.   
  
"Good morning girls," Scott said. Whoever these girls were, he seemed to know them.  
  
"Morning Mom. Morning Dad," said the older girl.  
  
"G'morning Mommy. G'morning Daddy," chirped the younger girl.  
  
"How are you feeling, Mom?" asked the older girl.  
  
"Yeah, Mommy, how are you?" piped the younger girl.  
  
"I'm, um, fine girls."  
  
"Great," said the older one. "In that case, could you drive me over to Becca's house? She wants me to come over right now. She says it's urgent."  
  
"Can I go too?" asked the younger one.  
  
"No, Lindsay, you're too little," the older girl said.  
  
"You're mean Katie. Mommy, Daddy, tell Katie not to be so mean."  
  
Scott smiled at both of them. "I think Katie's right, Lindsay. Who would you play with at Becca's house? They're all quite a bit older than you are."  
  
The younger girl - Lindsay - pouted but didn't say anything else.  
  
"So can you take me?" The older girl - Katie - asked.  
  
"I think I'd better take you," Scott said. "I don't think your mother's feeling quite well enough."  
  
In truth, Lauren felt fine, if a little confused. But she had no idea who this girl Becca was or where she lived. "Thanks Scott."  
  
"You're welcome." He leaned over and gently kissed her forehead. "Try to get some rest. And if you're still feeling disoriented when I get back, I can take you to the hospital."  
  
"Ew!" Katie cried from the doorway. "Please, no public displays of affection." She ran off - presumably to get her stuff - and Lindsay ran after her.  
  
"I'll take Lindsay with me, so you can get the rest. We'll be back in about forty-five minutes," Scott promised, before giving her an even more passionate kiss - this time on the mouth - and leaving.  
  
With the three of them gone, Lauren felt that it would be a good time to at least try to get her bearings. She lay in bed for a while thinking about Scott and those kisses. Part of her had felt repulsed and disloyal to Harry, but another part had felt a warm, pleasant thrill.  
  
"Stop it," she told herself. "This is Guber you're talking about."  
  
She got up out of bed and looked around the bedroom. There were quite a few pictures of Katie and Lindsay, as well as some with herself and Scott in them too. She even found a wedding picture. The Scott in the pictures looked older than the one she knew from Winslow. Even she herself looked older in the pictures.  
  
"Oh great," she thought. "I'm old, and Guber's even older." She thought that this might be a dream, but it all seemed so real.  
  
She picked up the wedding photo and studied it. They both looked so happy. "Can it be?" she thought. "Could I actually have married Guber and had a family with him?"  
  
"This is a dream," she told herself firmly. "It has to be."  
  
She finally decided to just to lie in bed until the dream ended and she woke up. She lay there for a long time before she heard Scott come in.  
  
He didn't yell from a distance. He waited until he walked into the room before greeting her. Scott walked over to the bed and kissed her forehead gently.  
  
"How are you feeling, Lauren? Do you want me to take you to the hospital?"  
  
No, she thought, I want you to take me home. Aloud, she said, "I'm fine Scott. Really. You don't need to do that."  
  
A smile of relief filled his face. Unlike the smile he had given her when asking her out to the symphony, this smile was warm and happy, not nervous and forced. "That's good. I was worried about you."  
  
Lauren tried to smile back at him.  
  
"So, what do you want to do?"  
  
"Um, do?"  
  
"Well, Katie is at Becca's house, and Lindsay is in the living room watching 'Sesame Street.' "  
  
Lauren inwardly cringed, expecting him to propose having sex or something.  
  
"And I was thinking that we could watch a movie together."  
  
"A movie?"  
  
He nodded. "How about that one you really like - 'Emma?' "  
  
"You want - to watch - 'Emma?' " Lauren asked, incredulous.  
  
"Yes. Don't you?"  
  
"Well, sure Scott, I just didn't think that you would."  
  
"Oh I do. Why don't I get you breakfast, first?"  
  
"That'd be great."  
  
Scott left before she could tell him what she wanted. Lauren had a few minutes to ponder these latest events. Despite her confusion, she liked it here. She liked Scott. He was sweet. And this sure beat spending Saturday alone in an empty apartment.  
  
When he came back upstairs, it was with her breakfast: an English muffin, orange and coffee.  
  
Lauren was quite surprised to find her favorite breakfast on the tray. "How did you know this was what I wanted?"  
  
Scott smoiled again at her. "Lauren, this is what you always have for breakfast."  
  
"Oh - right."  
  
The two of them spent most of the morning watching 'Emma'. The movie was the same as always. When she was in college, she would watch it over and over again with her friends, but she never tired of it.  
  
After the movie, Scott turned apologetically to her. "I'm really sorry Lauren, but I'm going to have to go into work today."  
  
"But it's Saturday, Scott."   
  
"I know, but I didn't get much done yesterday. I have to go in. I'm sorry."  
  
"I wish you wouldn't," Lauren found herself saying. More importantly, it was how she actually felt.  
  
"I know," Scott said. He leaned over and gave her a kiss. "I'll be home as soon as I can," he promised, and then he left.  
  
It was almost noon, and her laziness in bed finally reached her. She wasn't used to being so lazy, so Lauren got up, took a shower, and got ready for the day. By the time she was done, little Lindsay was sitting on the bed.  
  
"Mommy, I'm hungry," she wailed. "I want lunch."  
  
"Okay, Lindsay. Come on." Lauren picked up her little girl - no, not my little girl, she reminded herself - and carried her downstairs. There she found a nice kitchen and made herself and Lindsay grilled cheese sandwiches. The entire lunch had an idylic quality, like something out of a family sitcom. Lindsay was cute and sweet, jabbering on about her preschool, what she'd seen on "Sesame Street" that day, and how much she wanted a puppy.  
  
More than anything, Lauren wanted to believe that this was all real. It was all that she'd ever wanted: a kind husband, beautiful house, wonderful children. Maybe because this might be just a dream, but the view of this life with Scott was affecting her more than she thought it should.  
  
After eating, Lauren cleaned up lunch. Lindsay insisted on "helping" too like a "grown-up." And after that, Lauren asked Linsday, "So now what do you want to do?"  
  
"Will you read to me?" Lindsay's little face looked up and Lauren in an adorable pleading expression that melted her heart.  
  
"Of course Lindsay. What should I read?"  
  
Instead of saying some common childrens' book, Lindsay said, "I want to hear Katie's story."  
  
"Um, okay, sure," Lauren said. "Will you go get it for me?"  
  
"Okay." Lindsay scampered off and returned with a handmade book entitled 'The Day the Principal Kicked the Whole School Out.' "Read," she ordered.  
  
"Okay," Lauren said. And so she read the most adorable story about a principal kicking the school out.  
  
"The end," Lauren proclaimed. She looked at Lindsay to find the little girl asleep next to her. Smiling, she picked up Lindsay and put her to bed. For a while at least she had some time to herself.  
  
This whole day was extremely weird and confusing. Lauren tried to deny it, but this domestic scene had won her over. This life seemed so peaceful, like something off of a television sitcom. And she wanted it. This life, with children and a husband, was all she had ever wanted. The fact that this husband was Scott Guber confused her.  
  
Dinner was a nice affair. Lauren made chicken, and they all ate together, even Katie who had spent the entire day away at her friend's house. They talked and laughed, and everything was perfect. Then she put Lindsay to bed. The little girl was so sweet.  
  
That night, as Lauren got ready for bed, she did so in the bathroom with the door locked. She felt modest around Scott; even if none of this was real, it felt real. She crawled into bed and prayed that he wouldn't want them to have sex or something.  
  
"Hi Lauren," he said, coming in.  
  
"Um, hi Scott," she said, peering at him from under the covers.  
  
He got ready for bed, though thankfully he got changed in the bathroom. When he emerged, he wore only boxers and a shirt. Scott crawled into bed and then gave her a concerned look.  
  
"Lauren, is everything alright?"  
  
"Why do you ask, Scott?"  
  
"Well, it's just that you're acting strangely. I mean, you act as if we haven't gotten married and had two daughters together."  
  
"What - what'd you mean Scott?"  
  
"You're acting so nervous around me."  
  
"Nervous? Me?" Lauren squeaked.  
  
"You're - oh never mind." He leaned over her and kissed her on the lips. Firmly. Lovingly.  
  
Lauren squirmed out of the way. "Scott, I'm kind of tired," she lied.  
  
He sat up. "Oh. So you don't want to - " he let his voice trail off.  
  
"Um, no. Not really tonight."  
  
"Oh. Okay Lauren," Scott said. He lay back down. "Well, good night." He paused. "I love you Lauren. You know that, right?"  
  
"Yes Scott."  
  
He turned off the light and they both went to sleep.  
  
*****  
  
A bright light shining in her eyes woke Lauren up. Instead of seeing the nice bedroom with Scott, she recognized her familiar apartment.  
  
"Thank God," she muttered. "It was only a dream. Only a dream," said saidly.  
  
Lauren rolled over, away from the light, and silently cried herself back to sleep with the words "I love you Lauren" still ringing in her ears.  
  
*****  
  
The next Monday, as Lauren passed Scott in the hall, she stopped to get another look at him. There he was, looking the way she thought he should, all stiff and solemn. She tried to imagine herself with him, them having a family together. She smiled.  
  
Then Harry and Marylin came up, and she walked down the hall with them, listening to their chatter. But the image of Scott stayed with her. Maybe, it might not be just a dream . . . 


End file.
